This blog was created by the Purdue Beef Team as an educational forum for beef producers and Extension educators. It includes timely news, issues, and management tips that have the potential to affect the beef business and decision-making process. Opinions expressed in the news clips do not necessarily represent those of Purdue University or the beef industry.

Daily Archives: May 5, 2017

Are the cows ready to breed? Assuming a 283-day gestation, if the cow that calved on April 1 wants to maintain her position as the first cow to calve on April 1, she only has 82 days to recoup from calving, start lactating and be cycling the day the bulls arrive in the pasture. And so the question of the day: “Are the cows ready to breed?”

Like this:

The use of growth implants has shown to be an effective tool in increasing production from the ranch to the feedlot. Implants cause a delay in fat deposition and an increase in lean tissue accretion while ultimately changing frame size. These growth promotants have been reported to increase gains of suckling calves by four to six percent (Griffin and Mader, 1997).

I received the call on Monday. I seem to receive this call 6-8 times each year. This particular rancher had just finished getting his cows diagnosed for pregnancy. He had 43 fall calving cows. Last fall, these cows were synchronized for artificial insemination and were exposed to one bull for about 5 weeks and a second bull for 7 weeks.

It is “calf-working time” in Oklahoma, which should serve as a valuable reminder for producers to get with their veterinarians to review, revise or – if one does not exist – develop a treatment protocol plan for their specific cattle operations.

Pounds of healthy calves weaned, as a percentage of cows exposed, is one of the most important characteristics of a profitable beef enterprise. There are several traits which contribute to this measurement of herd profitability, including: fertility, calving ease, calf vigor, udder quality, teat quality, mothering ability, and growth. Some of these traits have an effect on other traits.

It’s estimated as much as 75 percent of the nation’s cattle on feed were impacted by the weekend snow storm in the High Plains. Garden City, Kansas cattle feeder Lee Reeve says the conditions on Sunday were “as bad as I’ve ever seen”. “It was just horrendous,” Reeve tells Brownfield. “We had eight to ten inches—some places more snow than that—and 50 to 60 mile per hour winds. You couldn’t see. You couldn’t take care of your cattle. You just couldn’t do anything.”

he plan is designed to serve as the starting point as Congress and the Administration work to pass a comprehensive tax reform package this year. Danielle Beck, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association director of government affairs, said the Administration included in the proposal immediate repeal of the Death Tax – a priority for NCBA.